Dr. Russo is Director of the Intravascular Imaging Program at Scripps Clinic and a member of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases. He is also Director of the Cardiac MRI program. He received his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine, and is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases. Prior to entering medicine, he received a doctorate in Microbiology from UCLA.

In addition to caring for patients, Dr. Russo is committed to independent clinical research. During training he received a fellowship from the Hewitt Medical Research Foundation. Dr. Russo has been honored for his efforts to bridge basic cardiology research and clinical practice by being named as a Skaggs Clinical Scholar by The Scripps Research Institute.

Dr. Russo has presented the findings of his work at numerous scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. He has authored many publications on the results of his research and is a frequently invited lecturer at scientific and clinical conferences.